The Calm Before
by LadyBraainy
Summary: Merle wasn't the only Dixon to leave them that day.


**Based off of both the comic and the show.**

They found him two days after his brother died.

When Daryl didn't come back from looking for Merle, Rick panicked. The Governor was due for a visit any second, and the had-been sheriff was lost without his trusted right hand man. So he, Michonne, and Carl packed themselves into their little green car, drove out to the spot where Merle had set the sword-wielding warrior free, and began their search.

It took hours of Rick's poor tracking skills and a few close calls with the undead before they found the younger Dixon. Carl had been combing the outer edges of the nearby forest when he shouted for the others to come quick, he thought the saw something! Rick and Michonne ran from their lookout areas towards the sound of Carl's voice, but when they reached his spot, they both stopped dead in their tracks. Michonne gave no external emotion other than her mouth dropping slightly, but Rick fell to one knee and let out a hoarse cry. Carl just stood, motionless. He didn't make a sound.

Daryl was stumbling towards them, face pale and long hair covered with dirt and leaves. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot. His clothes were torn. His crossbow dangled empty over his loosely swinging arms. And he was no longer breathing.

Daryl Dixon had become one of the walking dead.

* * *

They didn't kill him. Michonne wanted to, but Rick screamed at her the moment she made a move towards him. Instead, they got some rope out of the car and used the pillowcase that had once blinded her to restrain him in the back and drive him to the prison. The Governor and his hordes hadn't shown up yet, thank God, but that was the only good news for the prison that day. Everybody came running and crutching out to meet the car, but stopped just as Rick and the rest had when they saw what came out of the trunk. They all watched the moaning figure of Daryl Dixon be released from his bonds and chained to a pole in the front yard by his leader and friends. Then Rick turned to the group and pointed towards the prison door.

"Everyone get inside. We need to talk."

* * *

Carol left the meeting to decide how they were going to kill Daryl as quickly as she could. It had been decided that, come first light, they would stab the back of his head so as not to leave a visible wound, fix his clothes, then bury him close to the rec yard fence so they wouldn't have to venture too far out into the field of walkers. But Carol didn't hear any of that. She hadn't heard a word anyone had been saying ever since Daryl had come out of that car, moving but not breathing. Just like her little Sophia.

She knelt down on the concrete in front of Daryl's snarling corpse and wept.

* * *

The others managed to coax Carol into coming inside for the night, but as soon as the sun rose she was back outside, sitting in front of the figure she had grown to care about more than anything else in this pathetic world. Glenn and Maggie were sitting a little father away, talking in hushed voices, and Rick was leaning against the gate to the cells, hand on the hilt of his knife.

Carol didn't notice any of this. She didn't care. She had decided not to care about anything anymore. Caring hurt too damn much.

She got to her feet and looked at the thing that used to be Daryl. It was gnashing its teeth, reaching out for her, struggling against the chain that held it captive. She began to whisper to it.

"You know, I wasn't kidding about you and me," she said. "Remember when we first got here, and I asked you if you wanted to screw around? You laughed it off, but I was being serious. I would've had sex with you. I would have loved you with all my heart, but you had to be a stubborn ass and never tell _me _you loved me." She moved a little closer to the body. If it reached hard enough, it could brush its fingers against her forearms, which were crossed over her chest. Rick watched her, the grip on his knife tightening.

"I never actually liked you, when we first met." She continued. "You were a hick with a coke-snorting brother who never shut up. Neither of you did. At least, you didn't when you were around and not off on some hunting trip. I didn't really stop and see the real you until the day you gave me the pick I used to smash my husband's head in." She smiled softly. "I never did thank you for that. Too caught up in death, I guess. We all were. And we always have been, from the camp in Atlanta, to the CDC, to Hershel's farm and my daughter and the barn, and even to right now, when the first guy I ever really had feelings for is reaching out n' trying to eat me." She giggled and leaned in a little more. Now Glenn and Maggie had stopped talking in favor of looking over at Carol, and Rick had moved away from the fence to come closer. Carol ignored them all.

" I told you once , the day my little girl died, that she had actually died a long time ago. That she was still lost somewhere out in the woods. And right now, that rational part of me believes that's exactly what's happened to you, too. You're lost somewhere in that wilderness, and I'm not ever getting you back. That's what the sane part of me believes." Daryl kept grabbing at her wrist, which was now within reach, but he couldn't get a good grip. He continued to growl and spit blood as he clawed at the air.

"But," she whispered, "there's another part of me, a hidden part, that still believes you're here. That you can hear me. That you love me." She grinned. "And that's the part that's talking to you right now." Her smile faded, and tears began to fill her eyes, though she didn't notice. She didn't have a care in the whole godforsaken world.

"You said that this place wasn't a home. It's a tomb. And I agree, Daryl. I think it is a tomb. I think it should be our tomb. The final resting place of Daryl and Carol." Her smile returned. "Has a nice ring to it don't you think?" Glenn and Maggie were standing now, though they couldn't hear what was being said. Rick started to walk towards Carol, unsheathing his knife as he went. Carol kept talking.

"You never said it, Daryl, but I know you feel the same way about me as I do about you. And here's your chance to prove it." She opened her arms wide.

"Tell me you love me?"

Rick, suddenly aware of what was going on, yelled for Carol to stop and began running full tilt towards them. Maggie and Glenn jumped forward. The commotion brought Hershel and Beth out of the prison. Somewhere, Judith started crying.

Carol took one more step into the binding embrace of the man she loved.

And, just as she knew he would, he welcomed her with open arms.


End file.
